Pandora Gets Greedy Read Online Free PDF Page A

…
not
… with all my Greek relatives visiting here in Rome that I just haven’t been thinking too much about Pandora and the exact reason that everyone has made the trip. Jupiter has had me flying all over the place, dropping off welcome baskets and heated Roman bath towels, delivering messages and the like. Busy, busy.”
    Mercury stepped to the wall and waved his arm. Instantly, Hermes saw everything that Mercury had been doing.
    Aphrodite deciding that she wanted a dark-haired slave boy for her foot massage while
Venus emphatically insisted on having a blond…. Mercury nodding furiously.
    Mars demanding a sparring partner well versed in the broadsword at the same time Ares demanded a knife fight.
    â€œIt never matters what they use, they just end up trying to kill each other,” Mercury said as the scene shifted again.
    Athena, in the food-preparation room, trying to talk to Mercury about Plato when Minerva walked in and started talking about Cicero. Then both goddesses turning on Mercury, saying that they actually wanted to talk
to
Cicero.
    â€œAnd I have to
find
the poor man, wake him up.” Mercury sighed. “It’s endless. It’s hard enough being messenger to my immortal Roman brothers and sisters; now I have to handle our Greek doubles! Two goddesses of the harvest, of the hunt, of wisdom, et cetera. Two gods of wine, of healing, of the oceans, blah, blah, bleck. So you probably know more than I do at this point, even though you’ve been having an easy time of it; off eating spiced lamb and other exoticeastern delights, making sure no one digs up a few pairs of sandals.”
    â€œI know, I know, pal, and I’m grateful you’ve been handling the menial parts of ‘our’ job,” Hermes said. “Zeus wanted to get everybody off Olympus for a bit; change of scenery, it’s true. But the Greek contingent is really here to help if it’s necessary. Zeus and Jupiter aren’t certain what’s going on, they just know that she’s been here exactly nineteen days. As per Zeus and Jupiter’s instructions, I placed Pandora and pals in the home of Lucius Valerius …”
    â€œHe’s a senator,” Mercury cut in. “And a good one from what I am told. Generous, smart. Nice-looking wife.”
    â€œYes,” Hermes continued, “well, smart he may be, but it didn’t take much to cast a spell over his entire household to make everyone think that Pandora, Alcestis, and Homer had been house slaves for years. They fit in quite nicely at first.”
    â€œAt first,” said Mercury, waving his hand:
    A well-fed Roman maiden was making eyes at Homer directly in front of Alcie and Pandy.
    â€œDo you not find me attractive, slave boy? Me, Rufina, a senator’s daughter?”
    Homer began to turn red and gag slightly.
    â€œYou Romans and your Roman ways,” Hermes said. “Sheesh! Even the maidens!”
    â€œIt’s the same in Greece!”
    â€œBut we’re much more civilized about it—about everything. Do you ever watch your worshippers? How far they take everything? The excess? And how much they
eat
! And
then
what they do?”
    Mercury looked hurt, Hermes recognized it at once.
    â€œI don’t think it’s necessary to disparage our entire general populace. I know we have some bad eggs here and there, but we’re doing all right for hovering on the verge of being
the greatest empire in the known world
, thank you very much!”
    Hermes laughed.
    â€œOne of ’em anyway. So Rufina takes one look at Homer and decides he’s the oatie cake she wants on her plate. But then, when she saw how Homer and Alcie looked at each other, she convinced her father to …”
    â€œRight, right!” Mercury interrupted, waving on the scene:
    Lucius Valerius, a gray-haired man of imposing stature, was handing Homer over to several men in the dead of night. Rufina was standing at the